Wednesday, September 2, 2020

My "type"

I've never thought long and hard about the type of girl I am,

But at the budding age of 23 it somehow almost feels like I've been them all.


The do-anything-to-get-the-guy type or the 

run-away-from-my-problems-into-a-boys'-bed-type or the 

I-think-my-boyfriend's-toxic-parents-are-less-toxic-just-because-they're-rich-type, 


but don't forget the

I'll-sacrifice-my-dignity-and-friendships-to-make-this-poisonous-relationship-last type or the 

I'll-pretend-to-like-sports-so-you-take-me-to-concerts-sometimes type or the 

I-swear-I'd-never-become-dependent-but-here-I-am-dating-you-so-I-can-use-your-car type


and last but not least at all, the

This-boy-said-he-wants-to-marry-me-so-I'll-believe-him-type or the

Love-defies-all-cultural-bounds-even-ones-that-threaten-world-war-III-type or the

We-never-got-back-together-but-I'll-still-fly-across-the-country-to-make-sure-you're-okay type


And isn't this type of girl tragically predictable after reading these descriptions? 

That this type of girl is doomed to write poems that chug on a little red cart up a mountain, 

    Just to find time and time again that the abandoned mine is empty,

        licked clean with not even salt remaining to sterilize these sores,

            cast away, racing down the ridge, over the pass, blood dried and sores scared by the thin but 

            strong gusts...yes, these are the poems that this girl is doomed to write.

For someone who is so bitter about love, I write some damn good poems about it. 

The bitter-ex-lover who-writes-poems-about-love...that's the type of girl I am.

Saturday, August 8, 2020

i can't help it

 when a man tells me "i love you"

i can't help it

when a man says "i'm going to marry you"

i can't help it

when a man declares "we are going to live together forever"

i can't help it


all who came before you also thought the same

and i wish you nothing but success because i would be the primary benefactor

but those who came before you sit waiting in line without consent

waiting to see if any man can break the spell

because my sweet, "it isn't you, it's me"

and all who came before you ultimately chose the path

with less thorn bushes and stinging nettle

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

it's been a year since i've written a good poem

It's your clothes strewn across the bedroom floor
it's the extra ache in your knees as you climb the stairs - one flight too many
it's the drum in your heart that resounds through your chest
and the ropes tighten, clenched fists and grinding teeth
but no anger, just the tension.

That the giving, sometimes for things that no one ever even asked for
nips away at the wool that wraps my bones.
Not knowing it was winter because I didn't know what day it was.
gliding on ice skates across a mirror but never being able to look down 
Too much of one can crush the other - be careful.

The freedom of loneliness (n): 
A brisk chill on what should be a bright spring day;
A beach with gray sand and a sunset like the day after a wildfire;
A plane to return home from whence you sprouted and thrived;
A detachment that always felt to good to be true.

There were things that happened when I was with you,
And now that I'm older, I've thought things through.
The mind remembers less than the heart,
But the electric currents are years apart.
Acceptance; breathing for myself again


Friday, May 8, 2020

Today

I crawled between the corner of where the highway meets the air
and for a second the cars are floating on asphalt
because really, how does that even make sense?
I stared at the cigarette butts and tiny pieces of who knows what
non-biodegradable material scattered
between the blades of grass
Plastic bags dangling from dandelion brambles and bushes
holding on forever maybe
but no one knows about this place
or even cares to know
so if I stay here forever,
who's to say that every day isn't today?

Confronting Conflict

You said I was as sweet as vanilla
but only when it's straight from the bottle. 
You bit me,
your lips sewn with fleece so it did not sting.
    And why do you set the water temperature
    to steam when its ninety-two degrees and 
    the shower curtain is embarrassed by 
    its incapability to block out the sun?
You lather to rid impurities
but I've lost track of which
of the droplets skating on your skin
were tossed down from the piping stream
or had risen out of biological response.
   You're pure and your intentions reflect it,
   Though the consequence is to inadvertently craft a 
   an alluring morass of paradoxical scenes   
   left for me to untangle.
What I would give to wriggle my tiny body
into your ear, following the electric paths to arrive
inside of your mind - just a peek
The reality: a discomfort of never being able to understand.
   

Monday, December 30, 2019

A little angry

I want to know that the validity of my emotion has to do with me and me alone
I’m tired of you only caring when my sadness has to do with someone else
That when I “update” you on my “relationship status”
Your disappointment in my endings are filled with more sympathy
Than when I called you crying at the age of 12
Because your brother could never do what I said happened
Until you understood
But that’s the thing about having pride as an adult
We don’t do “apologies”
No
That would mean we were wrong

on the metro in Paris

Falling in love with strangers in public
Is a much safer way to fall in love
A fleeting moment
Eye contact
Temporary butterflies
Everchanging motion
And just like that
You’re both on your merry ways
Like pressing your thumb into a sunburn
Just for a second 
You feel the warm pressure 
and see the yellow glow
But as soon as you let it go
It disappears